Disappearing database--must be magic!

D

Dunazee

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: pop

Hi there,

I just wanted to reach out for some information, as my problem has been fixed.

Earlier today I shut down my laptop, packed it up and went to a meeting. The location has wi-fi, so when I had a few minutes I fired up Entourage to check my email. Lo and behold, I had no messages and Entourage behaved as if it was the first time running. GAHHH! You can imagine my surprise, especially since I sent an email message right before shutting down. All seemed normal before the shutdown.

So, I tried to import my main identity, with the same result--no contacts, no calendar info, no emails... scary.

I looked on my backup disk, as it ran the backup this morning, and there was no database file at all in the corresponding folder on the backup.

Now that I've had some time to investigate, it turns out my original database (all 960mb of it) was in my trash! So I moved it back into its proper place and imported the contents into the "clean" main identity. All is fine now, whew!

How did this happen and how can I prevent it from happening in the future? Is there a "preventative maintenance" schedule that I should be following to ensure that the database doesn't get corrupted and that the live one and the back up one are both usable?

Thanks.
 
C

Corentin Cras-Méneur

How did this happen and how can I prevent it from happening in the
future? Is there a "preventative maintenance" schedule that I should be
following to ensure that the database doesn't get corrupted and that the
live one and the back up one are both usable?
Click to expand...

Well it could be user error, or hard drive corruption.
For the hard drive, you might want to reboot on your install DVD on
occasion to launch Disk Utility from there and repair the hard drive.

Corentin
 
D

Diane Ross

Earlier today I shut down my laptop, packed it up and went to a meeting.
Click to expand...

If you powered down without quitting Entourage first that could have
contributed to the problem.

Simply moving it back should have been enough to get you working again. You
were lucky this time, but the next time it could just be gone...poof! If you
don't have a backup strategy, see this page and select an option that works
for you.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/articles/backup_articles.html>
 
D

Dunazee

User error, lol! I'm sure there's some truth to that! I haven't run Disk Utility in a while, so it's probably time. Thank you for the quick turn on the advice!
 
D

Dunazee

Diane, thanks for the link to the backup strategies. I already use SuperDuper! to back up the rest of the computer, so I'll read up and see what else I need to be doing.

You may find it interesting to know that tech support at Shirt Pocket also advised quitting Entourage before it backs up (which I have it set up to do every night). I had an issue that I _thought_ was my not setting up SD correctly so that it filled up my external HD rather than running Smart Update. Well, actually the Entourage Database had filled up my entire external HD, because it was running when SD did its thing.

Anyway, alls well that ends well. Thanks again.
 
D

Diane Ross

You may find it interesting to know that tech support at Shirt Pocket also
advised quitting Entourage before it backs up (which I have it set up to do
every night). I had an issue that I _thought_ was my not setting up SD
correctly so that it filled up my external HD rather than running Smart
Update. Well, actually the Entourage Database had filled up my entire external
HD, because it was running when SD did its thing.
Click to expand...

You database is going to be copied every time SuperDuper backs up, but it
should be replacing the older version.
 
D

Dunazee

Your database is going to be copied every time SuperDuper backs up, but it should be replacing the older version.
Yes, it should. That's why, when I got back to my office and the backup drive, I was so amazed when I went to copy the database back to the internal drive and it was completely missing from the backup. And then to find the database in the trash?

I sent tech support at SuperDuper! the info, so we'll see what they come back with.
 
K

Kerry

I sent tech support at SuperDuper! the info, so we'll see what they come back with.
Click to expand...

SuperDuper simply clones your drive so somehow that file got moved to
the trash. Your Superduper clone would have the file there also. It
would have nothing to do with Superduper.

You really should have a backup system also that goes back in time.
Two that are good is Retrospect and Data Backup however, Data Backup
is the easier one and designed more for the individual user. I use
Data Backup (14 day rotational), SuperDuper (even though Data Backup
can create a clone I want different system backups) and Time Machine
backing up to two different Lacie d2 HD's, one which is dedicated for
Time Machine and the other which is partitioned for different things.
My backups run at 3 am after Quickeys shuts all apps down.

Another program I use is Crashplan which backs up to the web and I
have access to my backups no matter where I am plus if something
disastrous were to happen to my local backup systems (two Lacie d2
HD's) and my computer all my info is safe on the web. It works in
background and you never notice anything happening and it is always
backing up. I've restored tons of stuff from it without problem
including Entourage DB's. I'm kind of always amazed how well it works
(see this months Macworld review on cloud backup systems and this is
rated the best and its not expensive).

In terms of SuperDuper tech support, that's Dave who writes the
program and yes he recommends shutting down Entourage before backups
which is a good idea. The reason is simply something might be sitting
in memory or cache which hasn't been written to the DB. A restore of
the DB from TM may or may not be alright depending on this state (you
never know). I've restored from TM many times without incident but it
is a roll of the dice that's why I have so many backup systems. If you
use Entourage, due to the sync services mess on the Mac, you have to
have a lot of backups. If you don't you will invariably at some point
run into trouble.
 
D

Diane Ross

You really should have a backup system also that goes back in time.
Click to expand...

Another option that works for files like your Identity is to use a folder
action on a folder so that your backups are sorted by date added. I also
suggest the folder action for your downloads and screen snaps folders.

<http://homepage.mac.com/dougeverly/folderorg.html>

See this article for making an Automator action to backup your Entourage
data.

Entourage and Time-Machine-like backup

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/entourage_and_time_machine.html>
 
D

Dunazee

Thank you Kerry and Diane for the additional advice and resources. (And please forgive my tardy response!)
 
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